RFC1083

Network Working Group Internet Activities Board
Request for Comments: 1083 December 1988
IAB OFFICIAL PROTOCOL STANDARDS
Status of this Memo
This memo describes the state of standardization of protocols used in
the Internet as determined by the Internet Activities Board (IAB).
An overview of the standards procedures is presented first, followed
by discussions of the standardization process and the RFC document
series, then the explanation of the terms is presented, the lists of
protocols in each stage of standardization follows, and finally
pointers to references and contacts for further information.
This memo is issued quarterly, please be sure the copy you are
reading is dated within the last three months. Current copies may be
obtained from the Network Information Center or from the Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority (see the contact information at the end of
this memo). Do not use this memo after 31-March-89.
Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
1. Overview of Standards Procedures
The Internet Activities Board maintains a list of documents that
define standards for the Internet protocol suite. It provides these
standards with the goal of co-ordinating the evolution of the
Internet protocols; this co-ordination has become quite important as
the Internet protocols are increasingly in general commercial use.
Protocol standards may be proposed by anyone in the Internet
community, by writing and submitting an RFC. In general, any
proposed protocol will be reviewed or developed in the context of
some Task Force of the IAB, or some working group within that Task
Force. The IAB will assign a proposed protocol to a working group if
official delegation is necessary.
The recommendation of the working group or task force is given major
consideration in the decision by the IAB to assign a state and status
to the protocol. The general policy is not to designate a protocol
as an official standard until there is implementation experience with
it.
In cases where there is uncertainty as to the proper decision
concerning a protocol, the IAB may convene a special review committee
Internet Activities Board [Page 1]

RFC 1083 IAB Standards December 1988
consisting of interested parties from the working group and members
of the IAB itself, with the purpose of recommending some explicit
action to the IAB.
It is possible to proceed with widespread implementation of a
standard without the approval of the IAB. For example, some vendor
standards have become very important to the Internet community even
though they have not been proposed or reviewed by the IAB. However,
the IAB strongly recommends that the IAB standards process be used in
the evolution of the protocol suite to maximize interoperability (and
to prevent incompatible protocol requirements from arising). The IAB
reserves the use of the term "standard" in any RFC to only those
protocols which the IAB has approved.
2. The Standardization Process
Anyone can invent a protocol, document it, implement it, test it, and
so on. The IAB believes that it is very useful to document a
protocol at an early stage to promote suggestions from others
interested in the functionality the of protocol and from those
interested in protocol design. Once a protocol is implemented and
tested it is useful to report the results. The RFC document series
is the preferred place for publishing these protocol documents and
testing results.
The IAB encourages the documenting of every protocol developed in the
Internet (that is, the publication of the protocol specification as
an RFC), even if it is never intended that the protocol become an
Internet standard. A protocol that is not intended to become a
standard is called "experimental".
Protocols that are intended to become standards are first designated
as "proposed" protocols. It is expected that while in this state the
protocol will be implemented and tested by several groups. It is
likely that an improved version of the protocol will result from this
activity.
Once a proposed protocol has become stable and has a sponsor (an
individual willing to speak for the protocol to the IAB) it may
advance to the "draft standard" state. In this state, it should be
reviewed by the entire Internet community. This draft standard state
is essentially a warning to the community that unless an objection is
raised or a flaw is found this protocol will become a "standard".
Once a protocol has been a draft standard for a sufficient time
(usually 6 months) without serious objections the IAB may act to
declare the protocol an official Internet standard.
Internet Activities Board [Page 2]

RFC 1083 IAB Standards December 1988
Some protocols have been superseded by better protocols or are
otherwise unused. Such protocols are designated "historic".
In addition to a state (like proposed or standard) a protocol is also
assigned a status. A protocol can be required, meaning that all
systems in the Internet must implement it. For example, the Internet
Protocol (IP) is required. A protocol may be recommended, meaning
that systems should implement this protocol. A protocol may be
elective, meaning that systems may implement this protocol; that is,
if (and only if) the functionality of this protocol is needed or
useful for a system it must use this protocol to provide the
functionality. A protocol may be termed not recommended if it is not
intended to be generally implemented; for example, experimental or
historic protocols.
Few protocols are required to be implemented in all systems. This is
because there is such a variety of possible systems; for example,
gateways, terminal servers, workstations, multi-user hosts. It is
not necessary for a gateway to implement TCP and the protocols that
use TCP (though it may be useful). It is expected that general
purpose hosts will implement at least IP (including ICMP), TCP and
UDP, Telnet, FTP, SMTP, Mail, and the Domain Name System (DNS).
3. The Request for Comments Documents
The documents called Request for Comments (or RFCs) are the working
notes of the Internet research and development community. A document
in this series may be on essentially any topic related to computer
communication, and may be anything from a meeting report to the
specification of a standard. All standards are published as RFCs,
but not all RFCs specify standards.
Anyone can submit a document for publication as an RFC. Submissions
must be made via electronic mail to the RFC Editor (see the contact
information at the end of this memo).
While RFCs are not refereed publications, they do receive technical
review form the task forces, individual technical experts, or the RFC
Editor, as appropriate.
Once a document is assigned an RFC number and published, that RFC is
never revised or re-issued with the same number. There is never a
question of having the most recent version of a particular RFC.
However, a protocol (such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP)) may be
improved and re-documented many times in several different RFCs. It
is important to verify that you have the most recent RFC on a
particular protocol. This "IAB Official Protocol Standards" memo is
the reference for determining the correct RFC to refer to for the
Internet Activities Board [Page 3]

RFC 1083 IAB Standards December 1988
current specification of each protocol.
The RFCs are available from the Network Information Center at SRI
International. For more information about obtaining RFCs see the
contact information at the end of this memo.
4. Other Reference Documents
There are four other reference documents of interest in checking the
current status of protocol specifications and standardization. These
are the Assigned Numbers, the Official Protocols, the Gateway
Requirements, and the Host Requirements. Note that these documents
are revised and updated at different times; in case of differences
between these documents, the most recent must prevail.
4.1. Assigned Numbers
This document lists the assigned values of the parameters used in the
various protocols. For example, IP protocol codes, TCP port numbers,
Telnet Option Codes, ARP hardware types, and Terminal Type names.
Assigned Numbers was most recently issued as RFC-1010.
Another document, Internet Numbers, lists the assigned IP network
numbers, and the autonomous system numbers. Internet Numbers was
most recently issued as RFC-1062.
4.2. Official Protocols
This document list the protocols and describes any known problems and
ongoing experiments. Official Protocols was recently issued as RFC-
1011.
4.3. Gateway Requirements
This document reviews the specifications that apply to gateways and
supplies guidance and clarification for any ambiguities. Gateway
Requirement was recently issued as RFC-1009.
4.4. Host Requirements
This document reviews the specifications that apply to hosts and
supplies guidance and clarification for any ambiguities. Host
Requirements is in preparation and will be issued soon.
Internet Activities Board [Page 4]

RFC 1083 IAB Standards December 1988
5. Explanation of Terms
There are two independent categorizations of protocols. The first is
the state of standardization which is one of "standard", "draft
standard", "proposed", "experimental", or "historic". The second is
the status of this protocol which is one of "required",
"recommended", "elective", or "not recommended". One could expect a
particular protocol to move along the scale of status from elective
to required at the same time as it moves along the scale of
standardization from proposed to standard.
At any given time a protocol is a cell of the following matrix.
Protocols are likely to be in cells in about the following
proportions (indicated by the number of Xs). Most will be on the
main diagonal. A new protocol is most likely to start in the
(proposed, elective) cell, or the (experimental, not recommended)
cell.
Req Rec Ele Not
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Std | XXX | XX | X | |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Draft | | X | XX | |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Prop | | | XXX | X |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Expr | | | X | XXX |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Hist | | | | XXX |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Some protocol are particular to hosts and some to gateways; a few
protocols are used in both. The definitions of the terms below will
refer to a "system" which is either a host or a gateway (or both).
It should be clear from the context of the particular protocol which
types of systems are intended.
5.1. Definitions
5.1.1. Standard Protocol
The IAB has established this as an official standard protocol for
the Internet. These are separated into two groups: (1) IP
protocol and above, protocols that apply to the whole Internet;
and (2) network-specific protocols, generally specifications of
how to do IP on particular types of networks.
Internet Activities Board [Page 5]

RFC 1083 IAB Standards December 1988
5.1.2. Draft Standard Protocol
The IAB is actively considering this protocol as a possible
Standard Protocol. Substantial and widespread testing and comment
is desired. Comments and test results should be submitted to the
IAB. There is a possibility that changes will be made in a Draft
Standard Protocol before it becomes a Standard Protocol.
5.1.3. Proposed Protocol
These are protocol proposals that may be considered by the IAB for
standardization in the future. Implementation and testing by
several groups is desirable. Revisions of the protocol
specification are likely.
5.1.4. Experimental Protocol
A system should not implement an experimental protocol unless it
is participating in the experiment and has coordinated its use of
the protocol with the developer of the protocol.
Typically, experimental protocols are those that are developed as
part of a specific ongoing research project not related to an
operational service offering. While they may be proposed as a
service protocol at a later stage, and thus become proposed,
draft, and then standard protocols, the designation of a protocol
as experimental is meant to suggest that the protocol, although
perhaps mature, is not intended for operational use.
5.1.5. Historic Protocol
These are protocols that are unlikely to ever become standards in
the Internet either because they have been superseded by later
developments or due to lack of interest. These are protocols that
are at an evolutionary dead end.
5.1.6. Required Protocol
All systems must implement the required protocols.
5.1.7. Recommended Protocol
All systems should implement the recommended protocols.
5.1.8. Elective Protocol
A system may or may not implement an elective protocol. The
general notion is that if you are going to do something like this,
Internet Activities Board [Page 6]

RFC 1083 IAB Standards December 1988
The protocol standards are managed for the IAB by the Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority.
Please refer to the documents "Assigned Numbers" (RFC-1010) and
"Official Internet Protocols" (RFC-1011) for further information
about the status of protocol documents. There are two documents that
summarize the requirements for host and gateways in the Internet,
"Host Requirements" (RFC in preparation) and "Gateway Requirements"
(RFC-1009).
How to obtain the most recent edition of this "IAB Official
Protocol Standards" memo:
The file "in-notes/iab-standards.txt" may be copied via FTP
from the VENERA.ISI.EDU computer using the FTP username
"anonymous" and FTP password "guest".
7.3. Request for Comments Editor Contact
Contact:
Jon Postel
RFC Editor
USC Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6695
1-213-822-1511
Postel@ISI.EDU
Documents may be submitted via electronic mail to the RFC Editor for
consideration for publication as RFC. If you are not familiar with
the format or style requirements please request the "Instructions for
RFC Authors". In general, the style of any recent RFC may be used as
a guide.
Internet Activities Board [Page 11]

RFC 1083 IAB Standards December 1988
7.4. The Network Information Center and Requests for Comments Contact
Contact:
SRI International
DDN Network Information Center
333 Ravenswood Avenue
Menlo Park, CA 94025
1-800-235-3155
1-415-859-3695
NIC@SRI-NIC.ARPA
The Network Information Center (NIC) provides many information
services for the Internet community. Among them is maintaining the
Requests for Comments (RFC) library.
RFCs can be obtained via FTP from SRI-NIC.ARPA with the pathname
RFC:RFCnnnn.TXT where "nnnn" refers to the number of the RFC. A list
of all RFCs may be obtained by copying the file RFC:RFC-INDEX.TXT.
Log in with FTP username ANONYMOUS and password GUEST.
The NIC also provides an automatic mail service for those sites which
cannot use FTP. Address the request to SERVICE@SRI-NIC.ARPA and in
the subject field of the message indicate the RFC number, as in
"Subject: RFC nnnn".
How to obtain the most recent edition of this "IAB Official
Protocol Standards" memo:
The file RFC:IAB-STANDARDS.TXT may be copied via FTP from the
SRI-NIC.ARPA computer following the same procedures used to
obtain RFCs.
Author's Address:
Jon Postel
USC/Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
Phone: (213) 822-1511
Email: Postel@ISI.EDU
Internet Activities Board [Page 12]